UNIVERSITY OF UYO JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES

Annang, consisting of eight Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State is a sub-group of the Ibibio. The fact of the Ibibio origin of the Annang reflects in the replication of villages, clans, common totems, deities, socio-political organisation and institutions. The sense of common ancestry informed the effective involvement of the Annang in the Ibibio State Union. In the colonial records, Annang was recognised as Western Ibibio. In fact, present day Akwa Ibom State was divided into six Ibibio districts, viz: Abak, Eket, Itu, Ikot Ekpene, Opobo (Ikot Abasi) and Uyo. However, from 1953, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) led-government in the Eastern Nigeria initiated the process of fragmentation and eventually balkanised Ibibio land into Ibibio and Annang Provinces. (Ibibio Province was later renamed Uyo Province). In recent times, the fragmentation has been given a linguistic dimension by some scholars, such that Annang, a dialect of the Ibibio language has been “elevated” to the rank of a distinct language even when it has been proven that genetically, Annang is a dialect of the Ibibio language, and belongs to the “Ibibiod” language cluster. Using an interdisciplinary methodology, the paper historically affirms the Ibibio origin of the Annang who speak a dialect of the Ibibio language.

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